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8mm sound film was never sold with a sound stripe on it but there were ways to apply a sound stripe to 8mm film. In addition, there were some projectors that could read sound on 8mm film. 8mm film was in use around 1930 to 1970. We currently do not have a way to capture sound from 8mm film, so your 8mm film to DVD project would not have sound on it.

If your film has sound, it might be Super 8. Super 8 film was sold with a sound stripe and without sound stripe. About 95% of the super 8 film out there today is silent. Super 8 film was in use from 1965 to 1985. We can transfer the sound from Super 8 and your 8mm film to DVD project would have sound in this case.

On our Silver, Gold or Platinum process, the film is scanned. The scanner can only record the video from the film. So, the sound would be captured on a 2nd run on a different piece of equipment. Then a video editor will sync the sound with the video.

Most companies today transfer 8mm film to DVD using your average retail DVDs. The average retail DVD lasts about 10 to 15 years under normal conditions, less under higher levels of heat, humidity and sunlight.

Some companies transfer your 8mm film to DVD using 100-year Gold DVDs. This is an improvement, but these Gold DVDs do not have any scratch protection. Anyone that has had DVDs for the past 15 years knows that scratches are as much, if not more of a problem than the amount of time it will last.

We transfer your 8mm film to DVD using 50-year scratch proof DVDs. The archival DVDs we use have a protective coating that makes the DVD surface 100 times less likely to scratch. This is why you can be confident that the DVDs we use for your 8mm film to DVD transfer will last longer than any other DVD on the market.

Back in the 1980’s you could transfer your film to DVD and get about the same quality using your camcorder as the camera shop down the street. Today, that isn’t the case. Even though many companies are still using the same film to DVD machine they did in the 1980’s, other companies have brought professional equipment from the movie studios to use on 8mm, Super and 16mm film.

Today, there are frame by frame machines (still use a camcorder but uses it as a still picture device which produces better quality film to DVD results). In addition, some companies are using professional film scanners. Like a flat bed scanner, these scanners scan the film instead of using a camcorder. Film scanners produce the best film to DVD transfer.

So, today, even though many film transfer companies still use the same film to DVD equipment from the 1980’s, there are companies that have advanced the art of film to DVD transfers to a new level using film scanners.

In some cases, transferring 8mm film to DVD will only show a marginal decrease in quality compared to transferring 8mm to BluRay. The type of transfer or scan will determine how close the 8mm film to DVD and the 8mm film to BluRay are in terms of video quality.

In terms of pure resolution, BluRay DVD has 50% more than DVD. But, there are two factors that can make the DVD look almost as good as the Blu-Ray DVD. The first is the 8mm film to DVD transfer process. A high definition 1080p film transfer will yield video that is as close to the film as possible. It would have all the definition and details the film has. When you scan the film at high definition and then down-convert the video to standard definition, even those you’ve lost 50% of the resolution, you only loose about 15% of the visual quality. This is just because the film was scanned in at high definition to begin with. When the video is re-encoded for standard definition video, it has more to work with and produces a better image quality than if the film was scanned in at standard definition to being with.

The second reason DVD can look almost as good as BluRay is that BluRay players up convert the DVD to high definition. Now, you can’t completely make up for resolution that isn’t there, but because the video was originally high definition, the up conversion will turn out better because the amount of detail was maximized.

Yes, we can restore your 8mm film to DVD. Most film transfer companies will tell you that they can’t correct for color shifting or dark footage, or that there is no way to remove scratches. Well, they are wrong. They just don’t know any better.

We’ve been involved in developing and buying 8mm film to DVD restoration equipment for the past 15 years. The restoration equipment wont make your film look like a major motion picture, but it can correct the film from the color shifting and can correct/enhance dark footage, and it can remove scratches.

So, there are things that can be done to make your 8mm film to dvd transfer look better than the film does now.

Both our Gold and Platinum transfer use the same 8mm film to DVD restoration equiptment. So, if you are interested in restoring your 8mm film to DVD as good as it can be, choose the Gold or Platinum transfer.